"Who the fuck is this paging me at 5:46 in the morning crack of dawning now, I'm yawning..."
Ladies and gentleman that's easily one of the most iconic lines in hip-hop history. From one of many great songs on the classic debut album - Ready to Die - by the Notorious B.I.G aka Biggie Smalls. Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the album, which is now considered a masterpiece (and rightly so too).
Ready to Die presented to the world the rap phenomenon that is Biggie Smalls - debuting at a time when hip-hop was at it's artistic peak - especially when you look at the releases of that year. 20 years on we can now look at the album as one of the greatest contributions to music and here's why...
Looking at the landscape at the time of it's release - the West Coast was completely dominating hip-hip. The likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Dogg Pound were controlling the radio, completely nullifying the East Coast sound. Nonetheless, a 22-year-old from Bed-Stuy Brooklyn was soon going to change that. Many may argue that there was a resurgence brewing in New York, as 1994 saw some notable releases including: Redman's Dare Iz a Darkside and Jeru the Damanja's The Sun Rises in the East and of course Nas' glorified Illmatic as well Method Man's Tical. However, with Biggie he was the chosen one, the Neo if you like. To put it in basketball terms, Biggie was the franchise player in the "East Coast team" - he was the man who was going to bring back the East Coast sound to the mass.
Ready to Die redefinined hip-hop for two core reasons. One confounding reason that many avoid to admit or fail to understand was the engine that was Bad Boy Records. It goes without saying that Biggie's lyricism, his flow, his ability to tell stories is what made us love the album and the emcee himself. But, Diddy/Bad Boy need their credit here. Diddy's ability to pick beats and samples were the nucleus and foundation to the album's success. While Biggie provided the hardcore and brash lyrics, Puff added the necessary sheen that allowed the album to be radio friendly and attract the average listeners ear. Both factors collided to produce the now greatness that we hear today.
With that in mind, looking at the album as a composition - it is actually the perfect example of hardcore and radio-friendly. Which to my knowledge hasn't been rivalled (except for his sophomore album of course). You had songs like Everyday Struggle, Things Done Changed, Warning and Gimme the Loot for the hardcore rap fans while Biggie also catered for the soft listeners with Big Poppa, One More Chance remix and Juicy. With no fans being disappointed with either side of the spectrum. It was this dualism that can be put down to the album's success - Biggies awesome talent as well as having the machine that was Bad Boy Boy/ Puffy to push him to new realms.
I think it's worth discussing briefly about the magnitude of Juicy. In my very humble opinion it's actually hip-hop's greatest and most influential song to date. To my knowledge it's the only song where every single line is a quotable. The song perfectly captures and embodies the ideals of what hip-hop is; the whole rags to riches semantic that we often hear. Juicy is easily the purest hip-hop composition with relatable but clever lyrics , matched with a sound that is friendly to all but still has its roots to the hip-hop sound.
Ready to Die is a masterpiece in all aspects, the only way I can describe it is "Raw". The production was gritty, uncleasned and unmastered for the right reason, perfectly complementing Biggie's lyrics. The production sonically presented the hardships of New York or more specifically Brooklyn. Especially with Easy Mo Bee's production who really provided the perfect assist to Biggie's lyrics. I could go so much deeper into Biggie's lyricism on this album but I think I've done that far too often with past blogs. But what I will say, is that what Ready to Die presented - was a raw 22-year-old who was completely unrefined and hungry - and this was reflected within his lyrics. Whereas with his later works such as Life After Death he was refined, had bravado and whit, which he should of as he was now at a better point in his life during that creation of that album.
It's weird to think that Biggie was the same age as I am now when he released Ready to Die and yet my life is half as cinematic as his was at that age (that's kind of a good thing... I guess). I just hope in the next 20 years my children will appreciate this album as much as I have.
Gezza
